


Shadows of Karazhan

by ShadowPhoenixRider



Series: Walk on the Wild Side [17]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Adventurers break everything, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Relationship Discussions, Self-Esteem Issues, Spike is a troll, Visions, World of Warcraft: Legion Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 23:06:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10931907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowPhoenixRider/pseuds/ShadowPhoenixRider
Summary: Draggka and Khadgar find themselves at Medivh’s old haunt in search of a lead against the Legion. However, they might discover more secrets then they bargained for...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry this took forever, but the Karazhan fic is here now! Or at least, the first part of it. This is a rewrite of the ‘Hiding in the Stacks’ quest, plus a little extra bits. The story contains some elements from The Last Guardian book and the Warcraft movie, just to flesh out some areas.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also I may have put song lyrics in some of the notes because, uh, the song reminds me of the fic and the lyrics slightly fit? I'd apologise but I've long given up being a Serious Fic Writer!)

Ulduar may not have endeared itself to Draggka in the brief time she was there, but as soon as she stepped out of Khadgar’s portal and into Deadwind Pass, she’d immediately wanted to turn around and go back to it.

Deadwind Pass was a very apt name for the place. The soil beneath her feet was as dry and dessicated as desert bones, and the valley appeared to be cloaked in a permanent gloom. The land was grey and bland, the remains of trees shrivelled up to the point the hunter could have mistaken them for oddly shaped rocks. The wind was still, and the prevailing scent of ‘wrong’ made her skin crawl and Spike shift uncomfortably by her side. She may not have been as in tune with nature as her brother was, but it still felt like an affront to her very being, and her senses insisted she leave this dead, desolate wasteland, and the tall, imposing tower that loomed before her.

The bricks were blackened and dark, and the cluster of wooden buildings around its base were completely ruined, but the tower itself seemed remarkably intact, aside from the large gash in its side. If anything, it only made Draggka more reluctant to enter it, even though she knew they must, if they were going to try and stop the Legion.

“Draggka?” The archmage’s deep voice sounding out from beside her roused her from her thoughts. “Are you alright?”

“Been better.” Draggka admitted, petting the unnerved raptor’s head. “Last time I see a place so lifeless were in Northrend."

“Mmm.” Khadgar hummed in agreement, looking up at the tower in front of them. “I...did not expect the land to have been so badly affected by Medivh’s death. I knew a pallor had fallen upon this place, but how...” The mage sighed. “I have been away too long.”

“Ya never came back afta...” Draggka gestured, unsure whether to complete her sentence. 

“No, I didn’t.” Khadgar shook his head. “Not until recently, but I didn’t stay for long, nor was I paying attention to anything but my own thoughts.” Draggka raised her eyebrows in curiosity, but Khadgar had already switched subjects. “Anyway, we should make our way to the library. Hopefully it is a similar state to how I left it, but considering the reports of what Camdyn and her compatriots encountered the last time they were here, I fear my previous efforts will have been for naught.” He chuckled ruefully. “I confess, I am rather annoyed by the thought.”

“I guess sortin’ da library be one of ya tasks as an apprentice, yeah?” Draggka spoke, falling into step with him as he set off towards the tower.

“Assistant, actually.” The archmage replied. “Cleaning the library was a task that Medivh set for the assistants he was sent, of which I was one of many. It sounds an easy task, but Karazhan’s library is large and bountiful, the organisation was non-existent and the books themselves...dangerous.” Khadgar smiled then, and the hunter basked in the pride that radiated from it. “But I managed what none of the others did. I cleaned and sorted Karazhan’s library, and thus became Medivh’s apprentice. His only apprentice.” His smile widened into a grin that made his blue eyes flash, and Draggka’s heart skipped a beat as he glanced to her. “Maybe not the most glamorous start to my career, but it certainly was an instructive one.”

“Betcha couldn’t resist poking ya nose into some of dem.” Draggka grinned back, and Khadgar laughed, thrilling her and making her realize she’d missed the sound. It did wonders to ease her mind.

“Of course! You know me well.” The archmage said. “I learnt a great many things from my long hours in that library, and they’ve stood me in good stead so far.”

They came to a stop outside Karazhan’s large, ornate gatehouse, just as imposing as the tower itself, and Draggka noted the effigies of ravens carved into the stones above the door. Khadgar fished a key out of his belt pouch, and spoke again as he slipped it into the lock:

“Please stay close to me once we’re inside,” he said. “Karazhan is built upon a nexus of ley lines, and there are countless strata of spells woven throughout it. As a result of these forces interacting, it can be unpredictable, and I fear it has only gotten more...interesting since my departure. Be on your guard.”

“I will.” Draggka nodded, feeling Spike huddle close to her.

The lock gave with a satisfying ‘clunk’ when Khadgar turned the key, and the door only gave a slight protesting squeak as they pushed through it and stepped into Karazhan.

Khadgar pushed the door closed behind them, murmuring a soft incantation to make Atiesh glow, casting a comforting orange light onto their surroundings. Large motes of dust hung in the entry hall, dancing away as Khadgar walked through them, passing a doorway on their right towards a set of stairs ahead, which looked like to be under a second, internal ‘roof’. Draggka found that in itself was strange, but what really caught her eye was the wooden beams holding the ‘roof’ aloft were carved into the heads of horses, with jewelled red eyes that gleamed when the light caught them. She knew horses to be the large, stupid prey animals that humans (and some blood elf paladins) chose to ride, but these carvings made them look distinctly sinister and eerie.

As she quickened her pace to catch up to the archmage, she heard Spike growl lowly, his body as tense as a bowstring. The hunter hesitated, her ears twitching. She couldn’t hear anything amiss, but when she glanced further down the hall, towards what looked to be the stables, she thought she caught a glimpse of something moving, something very much like a ghost with a lantern.

“Don’t mind the spirits.” Khadgar’s voice floated back to her, and Draggka realized her bow was in her hand and her fingers were in her quiver. “If you ignore them, they usually disappear by themselves. Please stay close, I don’t want to lose you in here.”

Spike was still tense and wary, but the troll heeded the human’s soft request, rejoining Khadgar in front of an ornate archway before a set of grey-white marble stairs. The stones of the columns were darkish blue, decorated with golden swirling patterns, with red stones occasionally set within them, and though they had been dulled with age and a thick layer of dust, they were still beautiful. It reminded Draggka of the grandeur of the temples in Pandaria, but this was more softly stated, which she appreciated more than the pomp of the mogu. Then again, she was Darkspear, and unused to such opulence anyway; she still remembered how appalled Khadgar had been when he’d learnt that she and her people usually just slept on sleeping mats under the stars, and that hammocks was the closest thing to ‘luxury’ they had.

“I assume dose ghosts be da result of dose forces you be talkin’ about,” she said as they climbed the stairs together, Spike a couple of steps behind them.

“Yes. Or, I’ve always assumed so.” Khadgar replied. “They’ve been around since I’ve been here, and Medivh didn’t seem bothered by them...” He paused thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged. “Another of Karazhan’s mysteries, I think. One that shall elude me.”

Draggka hummed a non-committal answer, and a brief silence settled about them as they climbed the stairs, only the sounds of Spike’s claws and Atiesh’s metal base clicking across the stones to fill it.

They were just reaching the top of the stairs when Draggka noticed the walls around them begin to melt away, the stairs starting to bend up and outward, grass sprouting up between the cracks.

“Khadgar!” She cried, Spike barking in alarm as even the ceiling dissolved to reveal an afternoon sky, completely at odds with the dark and overcast one they’d left outside not minutes ago.

“It’s alright!” The archmage grasped her wrist, pulling her up close to him. “It’s just a vision. They happen from time to time, and you just have to ride them out. Unless you have a big enough shock, like falling down the stairs. But I’d much rather you didn’t do that.” He smiled crookedly. 

“A vision?” Draggka watched the scene set around them, the tower being replaced with a different landscape. Spike curled nervously around her legs. “Are dey past, or future ones?”

“Both.” Khadgar said, releasing his grip from her. “And before you ask, no, I don’t know if the future ones come true.” His voice became grim. “But they don’t seem to have a good record.”

The troll frowned at his riddle; there was definitely something he was hiding from her. But Khadgar never pried into her secrets, so she wouldn’t dig into his either. 

They were now perched on a grassy hillock in what had to be the past version of Deadwind Pass. Karazhan now gleamed in white stone, sitting amidst the mountains and in the valley that was lush and green. Draggka was startled by how vivid the vision was; she could feel the prick of the grass blades and the softness of the loamy soil under her feet, hear catches of birdsong, even smell scents on the air. The outbuildings that were ruined in the present were very much intact in the vision, and amongst them stood a youth. 

He was a human, dressed fairly simply in a beige-ish brown tunic and trousers, a blue woollen travelling cloak over his shoulders and knee-high boots splattered with mud, with a pack nestled between his feet. His hair was a dark, tangled mess, with a streak of white running through the middle that reminded the hunter of a skunk. He seemed nervous, shifting on his feet with something tightly clutched in one of his hands. Something about him seemed very familiar, and she shifted to see if she could catch a glimpse of his face.

Almost as if he’d heard her thoughts, the boy glanced in their direction, and Draggka gasped as she met his pale blue eyes.

The same blue eyes of the Archmage she loved.

“Dat...Dat’s you.” Draggka said, glancing between them. Younger Khadgar had a softer face, unweathered by the curse and stress, and he had the scraggly beginnings of a beard forming under his nose and at the edges of his jaws.

“Yes. It is.” Khadgar replied. “This was when the Kirin Tor sent me to apprentice myself to Medivh.” There was something...empty in his voice, and this time Draggka was unable to let it pass her by.

“What be bothering ya, Khadgar?” She asked, looking up at the archmage. He sighed, closing his eyes.

“Draggka...Did I ever tell you when I became cursed?”

“No...Ya told me dat it were Medivh’s spell dat did it, but not when it happened.” Unease curled in her gut, which only got tighter when Khadgar didn’t say anything for a long, long moment.

“I became an old man later in the same year I came to Karazhan,” he said softly. “I was seventeen.”

“Seventeen?!” The troll exclaimed, staring at the youth below them as he seemed to gather his strength, hauling his belongings on his back. “You, ya be nothing more den a whelp, mon! When I be dat age, I were still learnin’ to hunt!” A deeper, more sickening realization sunk into her. If Khadgar had his youth stolen at seventeen, and he was now in his forties... _Bwonsamdi take me...!  
_

“Khadgar-” She began, but the elder mage interrupted her:

“I’m sorry, Draggka.”

She blinked at him.

“Sorry? What, what for?” She asked.

“Look at me.” Khadgar gestured, as if it were obvious. “Look at what I was. What I could have been.” He looked away from her. “How can you love me, when I look like this? A cursed, wizened old man? I, I could understand it, if you’d never known me any other way, but, but now? Now you’ve seen me when I was younger? How could you look at me now, without wishing that I’d never been cursed?” There was a short-lived sting of bitterness to his words, before he sighed. His shoulders slumped, and he shook his head, seeming almost to shrink before her. 

Draggka glanced back to the vision, at past Khadgar almost jumping out of his skin as a slightly stooped and thin, wiry man greeted him, before she looked back at present Khadgar. 

“De only ting dat be changing afta seeing dis, is dat I know now dat you be handsome all ya life,” she said.

Khadgar’s gaze snapped back to her, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

“But-” he began, Draggka lifting a hand to silence him.

“When I said I love all of ya, back on Draenor, I meant all of ya,” she said. “In or outta ya robes. Cursed or no. Past, present, or whatever ya be lookin’ like in da future.” She reached up, cupping his cheek, feeling stubble rasp against her hand. “I not be just fallin’ for ya good looks, Khadgar. Dose looks you be havin’ ever since ya be a whelp. I be falling for ya ‘cos ya make me laugh. ‘Cos you do ya best for people, no matter where dey be from. Whenever I be talkin’ to ya, I forget ‘bout humans an’ trolls, an’ Alliance an' Horde. I just...I just be talkin’ to a friend. A friend dat I adore. Dat I love.”

“I don’t be lookin’ at ya, wishin’ ya never been cursed. I look at ya, and I tink dat I be so lucky dat I be findin’ a person like you, a person dat feels da same way to me, dat I do to dem. I love everyting about ya, Khadgar. I love _you_.”

With that, her hand shifted to the back of his head, and she urged the archmage down into deep, passionate kiss. She poured all of her love and affection for the man into it, hoping that she could somehow push back the doubts and fears that still clung to him. Even just to silence them for a little while.

When Draggka pulled away from him, she was pleasantly surprised to see that Khadgar’s eyes stayed closed and his lips were still slightly parted, as if she’d entranced him within the moment. He blinked owlishly when his wits returned to him; he was definitely surprised, but his wide blue eyes also held a hint of what looked like awe within them. The mage seemed to struggle for words for a moment.

“I...You...” He shook his head. “What did I do to deserve you?” He asked softly, an equally tender smile spreading across his lips. Khadgar took her hand, threading his fingers as best as he could with hers; since she only had two fingers to his four, the mage’s middle and ring fingers had to nestle together between her two. Despite this, it felt...right. Perfect, even.

“You were you.” Draggka replied. “Dat an’ being nice to me an’ Spike when ya first met us helped.”

Khadgar chuckled deeply, crow’s feet crinkling beside his eyes.

“Of course.” The mage glanced away, raising his eyebrows. “Huh. The vision’s gone.”

Draggka took stock of her surroundings. Karazhan had reformed around them, returning back to its ruined state as if nothing had happened at all. Had she been focusing so much on Khadgar that she hadn’t noticed?

“We...we not be missin’ anyting important?” The troll asked.

“I doubt it.” He replied. “All that happened there was that I came to Karazhan and met the tower’s castellan, Moroes. That was the man you saw in the vision. I met Medivh a little later that day.” He shrugged. “Anyway, we’ve dallied long enough. Come this way.”

Khadgar led her up the last few steps to a large, grand room, with a golden chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. Some of the pillars were carved like the ones in the entry hall below them, except these were in black stone, clearly ravens, with gold beaks and red gem eyes. A rug covered the middle of the floor, and it felt surprisingly intact for its time in the abandoned tower. This place seemed far too grand, far too big for just one powerful mage, his apprentice and a servant or two. Or maybe that was just what Medivh wanted; Draggka would never know. 

Khadgar guided her over to a doorway, wisps of purple magic gathering around his free hand like fireflies to a lamp.

“The last time I was here, I left some wards in place to secure the tower from intrusion.” The archmage explained. “As you can imagine, some would stop at nothing to obtain the secrets within these walls, be they nefarious, or merely plagued with foolish amounts of curiosity.”

“Takes one to know one.” Draggka grinned, giggling when Khadgar raised an eyebrow at her, a smile playing over his lips.

“Oy. I’d have a few choice words to say about that,” he said, “but I’m much more reassured to hear you laugh again.” His smile finally escaped him, as loving as the warmth in his eyes and the hand in hers.

“I...I feel better wit you.” The troll admitted, smiling back. It also helped they had a goal that allowed her to turn her attention away from her grief, but Khadgar...he was a salve for her burns.

“I’m glad.” Khadgar turned his attention back to the doorway, releasing her hand as the wisps of magic became a fully fledged glow. “Keep an eye out whilst I take this down.”

Draggka nodded, turning around to cover his back and taking the comforting weight of her bow into her hands. Spike took up his usual position by her side, alert and ready, sniffing at the air. The troll did watch the mage out of the corner of her eyes, however.

The doorway was now lit in the same purple light that was around Khadgar’s hands, except now arcane sigils, rings filled in with lines, and runes were embedded within the light and around his hands. They twisted and turned with his slow, deliberate gestures and soft, murmured words, other circles forming and some collapsing. It was as if he were tinkering with some great machinery, and Draggka was struck by the thought. It could easily be her in his place, fiddling with the gears and springs of a mechanical creature; the only difference was the media they used, and the plane of existence they manipulated.

The troll’s ear suddenly flicked; something had shifted within the tower. Spike sensed it too, growling deeply and baring his teeth. Draggka renewed her attention on the room; everything seemed as benign as before, but there was a sinister edge in the air that made her hackles rise.

Khadgar gave a loud curse, his magic pulsing around her as if it had suddenly gotten blocked and was ‘backfiring’.

“The wards have been tampered with!” He cried. “I- Medivh’s magic is thwarting my safeguards!”

“How? I thought he be-”

A loud bang interrupted them, and the floor rumbled under their feet, the very air trembling. Khadgar dismissed his magic in what Draggka could only describe as a grand ‘what am I even doing’ motion, and they hurried to glance down the stairs.

To be greeted by the sight of an enormous grey-skinned felguard leading a platoon of its orange skinned brethren at the base of the stairs. Their halberds alone were the size of Spike, with wicked edges.

“The way is clear, just as the Great One promised!” The presumed leader pronounced, green beady, glowing eyes resting on them. “The tower is ours for the taking.”

Draggka reached for an arrow, but Khadgar was quicker.

“I don’t think so.” He muttered darkly, and with a quick flick of his hand, an arcane barrier sprang from the floor, the demons giving a defiant roar as they began to charge up the staircase.

“That won’t hold them for long!” The archmage ran back to the door, the hunter hot on his heels with Spike behind, his head fixed resolutely on the demons as they slammed into the magical wall. ”Right, finesse clearly didn’t work, so we’ll have to do this a bit differently. Fortunately, I always keep a few tricks up my sleeve.” Khadgar wove a complex gesture, and two Kirin Tor eye symbols opened within the shimmering ward. “Let’s give these runes a try. A hand, if you would?”

Draggka stared at him.

“Khadgar, I be a hunter, I can’t-”

“You know enough magic to cast an arcane shot, yes?” He said, raising his hand to the first symbol. “That will be enough. Put your hand on your rune and channel your power into it as if you would do for your arrow.”

There was no time to argue. The troll took a breath and did as she was told, concentrating to harness her reserves and push it out into her hand. She felt her palm tingle, but she wasn’t sure it was working until the eyes closed and the barrier disappeared.

“Excellently done, Draggka.” Khadgar flashed her a grin before he bounded forward and up another set of stairs. Hunter and raptor followed the mage closely, but they didn’t get very far when a wall of white-purple ‘fire’ sprang up in front of them. Khadgar skidded to a halt in front of it, uttering a colourful curse in Common, and Draggka thought she saw something very large and arcane construct-like begin to head towards them, past the flickering ‘flames’.

“Wonderful, the bloody sentries are after us too.” The archmage’s eyes darted around to a table next to them, and to a thin, red-covered book on its surface. “There!” He swiped it up, placing it into the troll‘s hands. “This book contains a spell that will bypass the wards and take you to the library. Just open it and it will activate. I will attempt to convince the sentries to work with us, and see if they can buy us more time.”

Draggka blinked, then realized what was happening.

“I not be leaving ya here!” She cried. Khadgar frowned, glancing back to the sentry advancing on them, getting closer with each giant stride.

“The demons are here for the same reason they were in Ulduar. They want to stop us from getting any knowledge on the Pillars of Creation. You must get to the library before they do.” Draggka must have pulled a face, as he reached out to clasp her hands around the book. “I will be right behind you. I promise.”

Then he turned on his heel, barking a word of power and throwing his hand out. A bubble of arcane magic flashed to life around the sentry that was almost upon them, freezing it in place. “Go, now!”

The hunter swore softly, gathered Spike to her, and opened the book. In an instant, they became a bundle of energy, shimmering and spinning as it shot off past the mage and sentry. Draggka closed her eyes tight (or at least her vision; did she have eyes at the moment?) against the blur of hallways and the rush of noise, and the horrible thought that she was leaving Khadgar further and further behind.

All she could do was hope that he could keep his promise...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Give me the bright lights of the dance floor,  
> To shine inside this broken heart of mine,  
> The way you move, I'm forgetting all the ghosts in my mind,  
> Just say you're mine and stay by my side,"
> 
> -Scared of the Dark, Steps


	2. Chapter 2

Draggka didn’t know how far the spell took her into Karazhan, but it seemed that had barely begun before it stopped, unceremoniously dumping her and Spike onto the ground.

She groaned in pain, slowly raising herself up onto her hands and knees as her stomach churned sickeningly. The troll always became nauseated when she watched herself be teleported, but that spell had been even worse, even before landing on the floor belly first. The hunter prayed to her Loa for everything to stay where it was supposed to be, and Spike rumbled softly, nuzzling into her hair to reassure her.

It took a couple of what felt like hour long moments, but the sickness subsided without incident, and Draggka cautiously moved up into a kneeling position, leaning into Spike’s affectionate nuzzles and taking in the room.

The spell had indeed brought her to the library, as evidenced by the rows and rows of bookcases. In fact, the room was enormous, spread over two levels, almost as large as the room at the top of the stairs with the chandelier she’d just been in. She was sitting in the lower level, in a space with a couple of large, wooden tables, with many bookcases aligned in front of her, all full to the brim with their contents. 

Same was to be said of the second level, formed from an iron platform with stairs leading up to it at the back of the room. It probably was a testament to the construction of the place that it didn’t sag under the weight of the tomes. _No wonder he’s proud of sorting all of this out,_ Draggka thought to herself as she climbed to her feet. _It must have taken him months..._

Her gaze drifted back to the tables, with books and odd bits of paper scattered across them, but one table had deep marks gouged out of it, as if some great beast with metal claws had leapt upon it whilst seeking prey. There was also a black scorch mark on the floor nearby, though it had faded with time and people walking over it. The troll frowned. _Was that what he meant about the books being ‘dangerous’?_

Movement and the sounds of fluttering paper had her on alert, clutching her bow, only to see that it was coming from a book. One that was ‘flying’, in fact. It fluttered around a bookshelf like some giant butterfly, the faint wisps of magic animating it glimmering around its 'wings’. Draggka noticed a couple of others now, seemingly unaware of her presence, and behaving as if the library itself was a forest.

“Khadgar’s not going to be happy to find out that his books have gotten flighty,” she said, glancing around the room. Spike looked up at her in askance as her thoughts drifted back to her lover. She glanced back to the door behind her, briefly debating whether to turn back to try aid the mage. It wasn’t to be, though; she didn’t know how to get back to him from here, and the man did have a point. They needed to find that book about the Pillars of Creation before the Legion did.

_But where to start?_

“Spirits help me.” Draggka sighed. “I don’t think I can do this on my own.” Spike gave a little growl-bark, his blue eyes wide and earnest, and she couldn’t help but smile, petting the raptor’s head. “Thanks, Spike. I suppose I should start at the bottom and work my way around. If I can read any of them, of course...”

The hunter turned, and took a step towards the closest bookcase, and that’s when the fluttering stopped. She froze, orange eyes flicking to see that the books had stopped moving. Spike growled deeply, baring his teeth.

And then they went for her.

Spike roared and sprang towards the closest tome, clamping his jaws around one of its ‘wings’ and shaking his head furiously, easily tearing into the pages. Draggka sprang backwards onto one of the tables (it cracked loudly but held firm), smoothly loosing arrows towards the hostile books. Almost all struck their targets with satisfying ‘thunk’s, breaking the weak enchantments that animated them and sending them tumbling to the floor. A few arrows flew into the back of the library, or thudded in a bookcase, missing their snapping targets.

The raptor was on hand to take them out, however, plucking them out of the air and hurling them across the floor, pages scattering every which way with his violent mauling. 

After the books had returned to being inert objects (either through being impaled or ravaged), Draggka gingerly stepped down from the table, wincing at the fracture she could now see in the wood grain.

“Khadgar’s not going to be pleased with us, you know,” she said, tugging a piece of parchment that had gotten stuck on one of Spike’s fangs. “I hope none of the ones you ate were the one we’re looking for!”

Spike snorted dismissively as the troll proceeded to collect up her arrows, taking a look at the contents of each book. They varied from being of a completely different subject matter to ‘ancient artifacts’, or being written in a Common dialect she couldn’t understand (vowels in places she was sure they had no business being), so Draggka tentatively assumed that they weren’t the tomes they were looking for.

She’d just pulled the last arrow free of a book about the herbs of the Eastern Kingdoms, when Spike’s head went up, uttering a soft grunt of alert. The air in the library seemed to twist and congeal like blood, before Khadgar appeared in a flash of blue, looking a little put out but no worse for wear.

“Khadgar!” The hunter couldn’t help but smile to see him, Spike barking his own approval. “You be alright?”

“Yes, I'm fine.” The mage flashed her a quick smile. “It appears the magical energies within Karazhan resist any attempts to teleport within it, so a quick getaway will be difficult. Probably why Medivh kept an aerie.”

“An aerie?” Draggka attempted to tangle her mouth around the word, but the archmage had moved swiftly on, gesturing to seal the door behind her with his magic.

“There, that should buy us a little more time. I’ve re-adjusted the sentries to fight for us, and they should delay the Legion forces long enough for us to find what we’re looking...for...” He was saying, his sentence trailing off as he finally took in the room, and the carnage the hunter and her companion had inflicted. “Do I want to know what happened here?” He asked airily. 

“Dey attacked me first!” Draggka gestured to the one at her feet. “Dey were flying!”

“Mmhmm. And I suppose the table was animated too? Snapping at your feet, perhaps?” Khadgar raised an eyebrow.

Draggka pursed her lips, Spike chuffing softly.

“Okay, dat were my fault. But dose books did attack me. And Spike be doin’ more damage to dem den I did!” She blew a breath out of her nose, the raptor glaring at her indignantly. “Hopefully dey be salvageable. None of dem looked to be da one we be afta anyway.”

“No. Tomes that important would never be animated like that.” Khadgar said, picking up the loose bits of paper as he made his way over to her. “It would be too precious to damage in such a way. It’s likely still filed away somewhere. Hopefully, without an arrow sticking out of it.” A grin flashed across his lips as he passed her.

Draggka rolled her eyes, shaking her head as a smile sneaked across her own lips. In this brief moment of calm, a question bubbled up to the forefront of her mind.

“Khadgar?” She asked, turning to face the mage.

“Hmm?” He was busy tucking the pages back into the book, his back to her with Atiesh propped up by one of the tables.

“Ya said ya never been back since ya fought Medivh...But den ya mentioned when ya ‘last been here’. Which be sounding recent.”

Khadgar paused, and he sighed.

“I did come here recently. After I warned the Alliance and the Horde about the Tomb having been opened, specifically. I was looking for something, anything that could help us.” He took a breath. “I found Medivh.”

“Medivh?” Draggka’s eyes widened. “But I thought he be-”

“Dead? Yes. He was very dead the last I saw him.” He stroked the book’s spine thoughtfully, still turned away from her. “But he was there, just as I remembered him being. He offered me the power of the Guardian to fight back the Legion. That it was the only way to stop them, the only way to stop them destroying everything I knew and loved. That without it, everything I had worked for would have been for nothing.”

A pause in a silence so loud you could have heard a pin drop.

“What did ya do?” The troll asked quietly.

Khadgar set the book aside, picking up Atiesh.

“I won’t lie to you, Draggka. I have long desired the power of a Guardian. Longed to see the demons tremble at the fury I would unleash, to protect everything that is dear to me.” He looked over his shoulder at her, offering a faint smile. 

“But that is exactly why I cannot have it. Many succumb to the allure of power and the overconfidence it brings, and I have no doubt that I would fall prey to it as well. Maybe not immediately, but over time.” Another, softer sigh. “And we both know well that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Arthas and the Scourge. Garrosh and...many things.”

“However, I also sensed...something amiss.” The archmage turned around, a frown creasing his brows. “During my apprenticeship to Medivh, I came to know my mentor well. I learnt all his moods and manners, as mercurial as they could be at times. At least, I thought I did...” He trailed off, before shaking his head, dismissing that train of thought. “The Medivh I spoke to when I came to Karazhan before certainly looked and sounded like him. But...something in the way he acted seemed...wrong.”

“Ya felt it in ya gut.” Draggka said.

“Yes. Something didn’t add up about the situation. So I refused.” A grin flashed across Khadgar’s lips. “Sargeras may have inhabited Medivh for a while, but it seems he didn’t know him as well as I did. When I refused, ‘Medivh’ revealed himself to be a dreadlord in disguise.” A hardness shone in the mage’s blue eyes. “I sent it screaming back to the Twisting Nether, and warded Karazhan against further intrusion. I’m not sure how it got inside, or whether it was waiting for me to return, but I will not allow them to repeat such a trick.”

He sighed again, his shoulders slumping as he tracked the gouges in the table with his fingers.

“I was going to tell you at the right moment, when we were both in a better place. I...I didn’t want to worry you by admitting that I was a hair’s breadth away from becoming a puppet of the Legion.” His gaze shifted down and away from her. “I still don’t like to think about it.” A pause. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you until now.”

Draggka said nothing for a moment, chewing over what he’d just told her. She couldn’t deny the twisting fear in her heart that her lover could have been corrupted without her at his side to protect him, and that it was only his wit and a gut feeling that had saved him. 

Yet the hunter found it tempered by the anger that the Legion had deliberately used the image of Khadgar’s former master in a bid to ensnare him. A man the archmage clearly looked up to and cared deeply about. The very idea made her want to rip the very horns out of the dreadlord’s skull.

“I forgive ya,” she said, smiling softly and crossing the space between them, Khadgar looking up at her approach. “I understand why ya did as ya did. Lotta bad tings happenin’, and ya didn’t want to be adding to dem. But ya told me now. And ya still here.”

“I almost wasn’t.” He replied softly.

“Ya here now.” Draggka said firmly, resting her hand over the top of his. “Learn from it. But ya gotta keep lookin’ forward. It be over an done wid. Da now be much more important.”

Khadgar’s smile was small, but it reached his eyes and made them twinkle fondly.

“You’re right, as always. We have much more important things to worry about.”

“We Darkspear have a sayin’; ‘what gonna eat me first?’ Ya focus on da biggest danger first. Worry about da little tings afta.” She squeezed his hand, before turning to look at the rest of the library. “Like trying to find dat book we need in all dis.”

“Indeed.” Khadgar gave the room a once over. “Aside from those flighty individuals, everything else seems to be undisturbed, so hopefully everything will be where I left them. Now, if it were a tome so important to be entrusted to the Guardian for safekeeping, I would think it would have been beyond my attempts to open it when I organised this place, so it must be...”

A loud boom sounded out below them, making the tower almost shudder with its impact.

“You cannot stop us, mage!” The demon leader bellowed, echoing through the halls to reach them. “Your former master opened the way to our victory! Karazhan will be ours!”

The change on Khadgar’s face was immediate, becoming a cold mask with his eyes burning with pure fury. A flicker of magic flashed over his hands as he clenched them into fists.

“I’ve really, _really,_ had enough of that demon.” He hissed, turning back to the shelves. “The knowledge of the Pillar is here, I know it! We must find it!” 

“I don’t be meaning to make our problem worse, but I don’t understand some of dis Common.” Draggka said. 

“Of course, some of those dialects are decades away from the Common used now.” Khadgar swore. “If my memory serves, I would have put something like that...Up there! Follow me!”

The mage Blinked ahead, and the hunter broke into a jog to catch up to him as he bounded up the stairs at the back of the room two at a time. He twirled his wrist in a circle, and magic coalesced in his wake, forming into that of a small shimmering ball. 

“Right, now let’s see here...” Khadgar’s eyes lit up with arcane magic, and with the slightest lift of his hand, the ball of magic rose up to the top shelves of the bookcase next to them. Draggka turned around, gazing down the stairs as she awaited the demon intruders, Spike at her side. She could faintly hear them, moving through the tower, as well as the sounds of the arcane sentries doing their best to slow them down. She wished she’d gone and looked for the arrows that had disappeared into the deeper sections of the library; an enchanted quiver only worked so well to replenish her supplies.

“There? No...Oh, is it- no, it isn’t...” The archmage chattered behind her, but the troll tuned him out, deciding to plan possible angles of attack for when the demons burst into the room. They were high up, but there were a lot of fragile obstacles around them....If things got desperate they could kick the bookcases over, flattening the demons beneath them (or hindering their movement) but knowing Khadgar, that would have to be their last resort.

“Hmm...What’s this? Ahah! Here it is! I knew I’d put around here somewhere.”

_Finally!_ The hunter thought, turning around to see Khadgar pull an old tome from the bookcase next to the one they’d begun their search at. It looked very ordinary, with a banal title of ‘Notable Ancient Antiquities of Ancient Azeroth’, and it was only the way the author’s name (’Alodi’) was glowing as Khadgar handled it that hinted at its uniqueness. She felt a flare of annoyance that it didn’t even mention the ‘Pillars of Creation’ in the title, leaving only inference that they were an ‘ancient antiquity’, whatever that was. She’d have never been able to find it on her own.

“We have what we came for.” Khadgar said, brushing the dust off the cover and dismissing his ball of light. “But I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to bolster Karazhan’s defences and try to evict these demons before I leave. I owe that much to Medivh...the good man he was, not the pawn of Sargeras he became.” He offered the book to her. “I’ll conjure a portal. Get this into Modera’s hands when you get back to Dalaran, and I‘ll join you as soon as I can.”

Draggka looked between him and the book, the shock of his request condensing into something else.

“No,” she said flatly. Khadgar blinked at her, taken aback.

“No?” He echoed.

“No. I not be leaving ya here.” She stepped forward. “Sending me ahead to here I didn’t like, but I understand. But I am not leaving dis place witout ya. Not dis time.”

The mage’s brows furrowed.

“Draggka, we don’t have time to debate this-” He began briskly.

“Dere _be_ no debate!” The hunter snapped, planting her feet into the floor. “I. Stay. Here.”

The archmage's eyes flashed with anger, and he pulled himself to his full height.

“Don’t be foolish! We can’t have this knowledge fall into the hands of the Legion! If we both stay and die here, all our efforts will have been for nothing! All that slaughter on the Broken Shore, wasted!”

Draggka bared her teeth and tusks at him, incensed. Spike made an odd, almost fearful growl-chirrup at the back of his throat.

“Don’t ya dare say dat!” She snarled. “Don’t ya dare-”

“If you don’t leave this place, we are all doomed!” Khadgar all but shoved the book at her. “You know this! Every moment we argue is letting the demons close in on us!”

“Ya don’t get it! I can’t leave ya behind!” Draggka cried, her anger giving way to desperation. “Don’t be askin’ me to be leavin’ more people behind! Not you too. I can’t...”

Khadgar’s expression softened, tension loosening out of his shoulders.

“Draggka, I know you’d prefer to fight beside me. But I wouldn’t ask this of you if Azeroth and everything we know and love wasn’t at stake.” He took her hand and gently closed it around the book. “You know this.” He squeezed her hand once, before pulling away. “I will do everything in my power to come back to you. I promise.”

She looked down at the book in her hands. She knew he was right, but the feeling she was essentially betraying people again slid over her shoulders like sludge. Especially the man she cared about the most. The hunter sighed.

“Alright. I’ll go.” She suddenly lashed out, grabbing Khadgar by his collar and hauled him up close to her. “But ya better come back to me, or I’ll kill ya, mon.” Before the mage could reply, she tugged at his collar again, pulling him into a fierce, passionate kiss, her tusks leaving white imprints behind on his skin.

“D...Duly noted.” He replied breathlessly. “I’ll endeavour not to get killed, either way.”

Another boom sounded out, closer than before, and Khadgar cast a portal, grimacing as the shimmering gateway reluctantly opened up, the archmage having to stretch his arms wide just to get the portal to look normal. “The energies of tower are clashing and resisting me. I can’t hold this for long. You must go, now!”

Draggka nodded, but before she stepped through, she turned to Spike.

“Stay here and protect Khadgar,” she said in Zandali. “Bring him back to me.”

Spike dipped his head and uttered a soft grunt-bark in confirmation. With that, Draggka took a breath, willed herself not to look back, and walked into the portal.

* * *

 

Khadgar watched Draggka leave without a word, a sickening unease settling into the pit of his stomach like a stone. Asking to leave him behind not once, but twice, and so soon after the Broken Shore, which had left her Warchief and chieftain dead (along with many others of the Horde) was a terrible thing to do. But Azeroth’s future, _their_ future had been at stake, and they could leave nothing to chance with the Legion. 

She knew that, despite her protestations otherwise, and he couldn’t blame her for her resistance to his order. Especially with what he’d said...

Their next conversation was going to be very unpleasant.

The archmage was about to release the portal he was only just managing to keep open, when he noticed that Spike had not entered it. The raptor was just standing in front of it, staring at him.

“What are you looking at me for?” Khadgar cried, looking to the portal mouth, which was starting to deform as the tower’s magical energies twisted and fought against him. “I’ll be fine, go after Draggka!” The raptor didn’t move, or even shift his gaze. “Go! Go! For Light’s sake, I know you can understand me! Go! Follow her! I can’t hold this forever!”

Spike made a huffing snort, and he padded away from the portal, circling around behind the mage to stop at his side, looking up at him with what seemed to be askance in his blue eyes. It was then the coin dropped; he’d seen this scene played out before, only with Spike at Draggka’s side. It was the same look he’d given her when they were preparing to go out on one of the archmage’s errands, back on Draenor.

“So that’s what she was saying to you. She left you behind to protect me.” He murmured. “I do hope she doesn’t regret it. I’d hate for something to happen to her because you weren’t watching her back.”

Spike snorted in what Khadgar assumed was a dismissive manner. The mage did feel a little stupid; Draggka and Spike communicated so fluidly with one another, and Khadgar...as far as he knew, the raptor could be telling him an elaborate theory on the elemental planes, with no way to know otherwise.

A large, very close explosion shook the library violently enough to knock the mage off balance, seeming to reverberate down to the very foundations of the tower. His brief loss of concentration was enough for the hole in reality to slam shut, and Khadgar looked at the raptor. “Well, you’re stuck with me now. I’ve never fought with you before, or any other animal companion, so I suppose you’ll do what you do normally, and I’ll try to keep you from getting overwhelmed?”

Spike gnashed his teeth, bobbing his head in what looked remarkably like a nod. “I’ll take that as a yes, I think.”

The sealed door banged loudly, and Khadgar ran down the stairs towards it, hearing Spike’s talons click against the metal as the beast followed him. The door banged once, twice, and then came completely off its hinges at the third strike, the archmage coming to a stop several paces in front of it. The felguard leader was enormous, filling the doorway enough that it had to stoop to get its enormous back spines through.

“You should have run whilst you still had the chance, little mage.” It said mockingly, its smile twisted and voice raising the hairs on the back of his neck. “Your pitiful statues couldn’t stop us. You should have brought an army.”

Khadgar calmly met the felguard’s glowing, malevolent gaze.

And grinned.

“Oh, I don’t need an army,” he said. A low, deep growl sounded out from behind him as Spike slunk into view, back arched and teeth bared. “I have a raptor.”

Spike gave a blood-curdling roar, and charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Don't say you're leaving,  
> Don't turn out the lights,  
> I scream; I scream; I scream,"
> 
> -Scared of the Dark, Steps


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took longer than I expected it would take, but it's here now, so enjoy!

When Khadgar and Spike returned to the Violet Citadel, the mage slightly ruffled and the raptor with several new scars on his hide, Khadgar knew he’d been given a welcome glimpse into Draggka’s experience fighting beside her animal companion.

The demons had clearly expected the archmage to have been alone, and not accompanied by a blood-thirsty, battle-hardened beast of razor sharp teeth and talons, who’d had no qualms about launching himself directly at their faces. Bottlenecked by the doorway and unable to pass Spike’s barrier of snapping jaws and claws slick with felblood, Khadgar had picked them off with almost contemptible ease, leading to their leader vowing his revenge against the mage and his ‘insignificant’ pet. 

They didn’t have time to savour their victory, however, as the felguard had then revealed that whilst he attacked Karazhan, a whole host of demons were busy assaulting Dalaran above. Before a pyroblast had sent him hurling back into the Nether. Khadgar had still stayed to quickly string some wards up around the ancient tower, but he couldn’t help but worry that he’d thrown Draggka out of the frying pan and straight into the fel fire. _Without Spike..._

Khadgar hurried down the stairs to the main floor of the Citadel, where the Council had held their impromptu meeting about the Horde’s re-admittance, and to his relief he saw Archmage Modera standing on the purple dias, tome in hand.

“Khadgar!” She exclaimed, turning at his footsteps. “It’s a relief to see that you’re alright. The Legion started attacking soon after you left.”

“Yes, so I heard.” He nodded, coming to a stop in front of her. “I’m sorry I didn’t return sooner. There were some...technical difficulties in Karazhan.”

“That’s what your friend Draggka was telling me.” Modera replied. “She went out to help repel the attack with the Alliance.”

Khadgar’s heart briefly skipped a beat. He’d completely forgotten about the Skyfire and its injured they’d taken in. But he’d not forgotten their views on the events of the Broken Shore.

“She has? T-There’s been no issues, I hope?” He asked.

“No, not currently.” Modera replied. “We passed the results of our discussion onto the Alliance here after you left, and that along with the attacking demons has seemed to have cooled tempers. At least for now. That said, she’s kept her distance from them.” She sighed. “I don’t think this truce will last long, Khadgar.”

“It must, or the Legion will pick us apart amongst our infighting.” The young-old mage muttered darkly. “How’s it looking now?”

“Pretty good, actually. There are some remnants making a nuisance of themselves, but they should be cleared up shortly. I doubt that this is their last attack, however.”

“No.” Khadgar’s lips set into a grim line. “All the more reason we need to figure out what the Pillars of Creation are and where we can find them.”

“I agree.” Modera’s eyes drifted down to Khadgar’s side, and she raised an eyebrow. “I was wondering where her raptor had gotten to.” A smile played on her lips. “I didn’t expect to see it keeping you company.”

Khadgar blinked, before he remembered the beast standing calmly at his side. Spike had been so quiet, and his presence some comforting and constant, that the archmage had forgotten he existed. Heat rose into his face.

“Oh, well, er...” He stuttered, noting Spike had a look on his face that he could just describe as ‘smug’. “A-As Draggka probably told you, i-it was getting a bit dicey in Karazhan, s-so I sent her ahead with the Tome, in case something went wrong. She was...less than enthused by my decision, and, well, commanded her companion to protect me.”

“Considering you’re here in one piece, it’s done a good job.” Khadgar swore that the older mage was smirking now. “I can understand why you trust that hunter so much. She’s more than capable, and seems to have a good record of keeping you out of danger.”

“That she does...” He had to fight to keep the wistful smile off of his face. Spike made a chuffing noise, and now the young-old mage was sure he was leering at him. “Hey! Don’t laugh at me! You’re the one-” 

Khadgar abruptly realized what he was doing, and ducked his head bashfully. “I-I mean, I think he’s laughing. Dra-Draggka always acted as if he was when he made this sound.”

“I see.” Modera raised an eyebrow at him, and Khadgar knew she was trying not to laugh. “It sounds like you have a close bond with...him.”

Spike snorted, turning his head away from the female mage; the nuance of the gesture was lost on Khadgar, however. 

“Well, I think so. He hasn’t eaten me yet, so I feel it’s a good start.” Khadgar shook his head. “Anyway, the tome.” He gestured to the red bound book in her hand. “Any luck with it so far?”

“I’ve been a little busy, Khadgar. Some of us have had to organise the defences whilst our illustrious leader has been away.” The jab had no malice to it, and he merely raised an eyebrow at her.

“Illustrious leader, hmm? That’s certainly better than, what was it, ‘stubborn old fart’?” He grinned.

“Don’t let it go to your head.” She replied, a grin of her own playing on her lips. “It’s big enough already.” Modera soon turned back to business, however. “Now you’re back with us, I’ll try to find out what information we can from this book. Once I get it open.” She frowned. “I have a feeling it’s trapped, so I’ll need to take some precautions.”

“Yes, that would be wise.” Khadgar tilted his head in thought. “I can help you, if needs be. I have some...experience with such mechanisms.”

“I’m fully aware of your predilection for getting into places and things you shouldn’t, Khadgar.” Modera said airily, grinning widely. “And whilst I may not have been taught by the Guardian and had the run of his library, I have a few tricks of my own.” Her grin cooled to a soft smile. “Right. You should let your friend know you got back safely, and give her companion back. I’m going to puzzle my way into this, in the meantime. I’ll let you know if I need any help, or find anything interesting.”

“Of course.” Khadgar nodded. “Good luck.”

Modera nodded back, before teleporting away. Khadgar was left with the distinct impression that she knew more than she was letting on, but about what? He shook his head. Now was not the time to worry about that.

No sooner had the female archmage left, the entrance doors swung open, and a very familiar figure walked in, her head held high with triumph. Khadgar felt his heart jump for joy to see her, and Spike roared happily, bounding over to the hunter. Draggka knelt down to catch the beast in a tight hug with a wonderfully wide grin splitting her face, and the mage was pleased to witness the bond between them (though to his shame, he felt a tinge of jealousy at knowing he’d never be as close to her as Spike was).

Khadgar beckoned with his hand to shut the doors behind the hunter, subtly weaving a ward into them to indicate that they were not to be disturbed, doing similar to the door up the stairs behind him. He hoped it would be enough to stop someone from blundering in on what was going to be a painful conversation. 

Draggka looked up at the sound of the doors closing, her bright orange eyes meeting his across the room. Her expression changed, the warmth extinguishing as she got to her feet, and in an instant Khadgar sensed the chasm that now yawned between them. He was reminded keenly of when he had flown to the Spires of Arak, to repair the damage of the foolish decision he’d made just under a month ago, which he had vowed never to do again. And yet, here he was, staring at his stony-faced lover after once again having made another stupid decision.

Khadgar took a deep breath.

“Draggka, I’m sorry about what I said in Karazhan...” 

“Ya damn well better be, mon!” She snapped, so sharply that he almost took a step back, and he noticed Spike glanced up at her in alarm. The troll stormed over to the archmage, her eyes blazing bright like fire. “How could ya be askin’ dat of me? To leave ya behind!” Like before, her anger peeled away to reveal the true hurt and pain underneath. “It nor even be a full day yet, and I be losing my people, my chieftain, my Warchief! If I be losin’ you too, I...” She closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head, and Spike padded over to her, making a soft warble deep in his throat. 

Khadgar didn’t know what to say. He knew all of this when he’d asked her to go, knowing the pain it would cause, and yet to have it lashed in his face like this, along with the anger...

“I know...” he said softly. “It hurt even to ask you it.” The ‘but’ hung in the air above his head like a guillotine.

The troll’s eyes snapped open, full of tears, but still bright and fierce.

“Family be everyting to us, to da Horde. When tings be like dis, when dere be war, dis be when ya family belongs at ya side. More den ever.” She lifted her chin. “And dis almost be da end of eveyting! We should be doin’ as we did back on Draenor! Fighting together, back to back, ‘til da very end!”

A strange jolt went through Khadgar. She thought of him as...family? The implications made his throat feel as thick as treacle, and he had to swallow hard to speak again.

“I know...Yet if you’d have done that on the Broken Shore, you wouldn’t be here now.” He sighed softly. “You wouldn’t be here to push back the Legion. You said there was nothing to be gained from dying back there, amongst so many others. You and I both know that sometimes...sacrifices must be made.”

“But it’s not fair!” Draggka cried. “What be the point of saving Azeroth if dere be nothing left for me to live for?” A twisted, broken sob. “It not be fair. I only just be meetin’ my mate, da man dat I love, and now dey gonna be tearing ya away from me? I can’t...I can’t...”

“Draggka-”

They moved as one, stepping into one another and Khadgar wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face into his chest, and cried. He tangled a hand into her hair, and tucked his head against her to whisper in her ear.

“I know just the feeling, my dear. I’ve finally found you, and the Legion wants to take it all away from me, just like they have everything else-”

“It be dishonourable enough to betraying dose who be depending on ya,” Draggka interrupted, “but to be betrayin’ family too?”

“No! No, no you did not betray me by leaving me in Karazhan.” Khadgar squeezed her closer. “Do not even think that. I asked you to leave, didn’t I? For the greater good...” He sighed, resting his face into her thick, wild hair. “Light, Draggka, I’m so sorry. I promised we’d face these challenges together, and already I’ve gone back on it.”

“I love ya.” Draggka sobbed. “I love ya, please, don’t be leaving me, please...”

“I won’t, I won’t.” Khadgar felt his heart threaten to shear in two. “I love you too. I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

They held each other like this for a while, reminding the archmage of finding the hunter at Vol’jin’s funeral. He silently cursed the injustice of it all. She was right; they should be together, facing down the Legion, but necessity would dictate that they must part and play different roles to do the most good.

 _What be the point of saving Azeroth if there is nothing left for me to live for?_ Draggka’s words returned to him, chilling his bones right down to their marrow, and making him hold her just that little bit tighter. She’d always seemed so strong, so self-assured, so...whole. Even with everything that had happened to her. But now, in the wake of an ill-fated assault, she appeared as broken as the shore’s name. If her friends, her brother, or even Spike were not anchorage enough for her to want to live...

Anger, hot like the burning orb Draggka had acquired for him back on Draenor began to pool in the bottom of his heart like dripping magma. The Legion had torn away everyone Khadgar loved and cared about, and sought to break the woman he loved dearly, perhaps shatter her completely.

No. So long as he lived and breathed and had his wits and magic, he was going to make the Legion pay. Not just for Azeroth, not just for all those he’d lost, but for Draggka, for their future together.

He would make sure she had something to fight for.

“I can’t promise to be at your side in all you do,” he began softly. “But I promise that I have learned from my mistakes. I will never send you from my side again, not unless the need is dire indeed. We are stronger together.”

Draggka looked up at him, orange eyes shimmering with tears, and he had to swallow past the sudden lump in his throat to continue. “Light, Draggka, it was agony, listening to you telling us what happened on the Broken Shore. I wanted so badly to hold you, to be there for you...Thank goodness for Spike.” He glanced down to see the raptor curling himself around their legs, rumbling softly as he met Khadgar’s gaze.

“He kept ya safe too.” Draggka said softly.

“That he did.” A ghost of a smile flickered over Khadgar’s face. “Though...I think he should have been with you.”

“Ya weren’t to know,” she said, glancing away briefly. “Neither of us did.”

“No, we didn’t...” The mage realized that the troll had gotten to the heart of the matter in a couple of words; the unknown had made him send her ahead to where he thought it was safer, whilst she had sacrificed an advantage to keep him safe. Both had made selfless choices for the other, yet it would break their partner’s heart if either of them died. 

“But I know one thing. I won’t let the Legion take you from me, nor will I let them take me from you.” Fire lit his words as he tenderly stroked the back of her head. “That is a promise I intend to keep.”

The hunter gave a short nod, as if confirming something to herself, before she reached up to cup his cheek.

“Me too.” Steel entered her tone, and Khadgar felt a smile tug at him as determination returned to her once more. “Dere be nothing, not even da Legion, dat be keepin’ me from my mate.”

Khadgar blinked.

“Your...mate?” He said, his mind reeling at the implications of the word.

“Yeah.” She nodded, before frowning thoughtfully. “I...I dunno what it be to ya people. It, it not be binding, it just...means we be together. Closer den friends, but not as...ya know.” She gestured uselessly, trying to find the words. Khadgar tilted his head, moving into her hand.

“Ah, I think I understand,” he said. “Romantically involved, but not through vows and or ritual. For us, for humans, you would be my partner, my...girlfriend. If I were with a male, he would be considered my boyfriend.”

“Yeah, like dat.” Draggka nodded, though one of her eyebrows arched. “Tink I prefer ya as my mate, though. No offence.”

“None taken.” The archmage smiled properly, pleased that they were finally moving away from their pain. “I’m inclined to agree. There’s something...strangely ‘childish’ about calling you my ‘girlfriend’. But that might be because I’m not seventeen any more.” He chuckled softly.

A brief pause settled between them, before Khadgar sighed, his good humour fading.

“This was not how I wanted us to meet again.” He murmured.

“No.” Draggka agreed, her hand gently shifting to the back of his head, into his hair. “But I be glad ya came to me den, when Vol’jin...”

“I could do nothing less.” Khadgar spoke softly. “And yet now it is even more imperative for us to keep our relationship secret.” He made a ‘hah’ noise. “I can’t believe that they made me the leader of the Kirin Tor. _Me_!” 

“I don’t be knowing enough, but...I be proud for ya.” Draggka smiled, eyes sparkling. “I tink dey be right when dey said ya be da perfect choice.”

Khadgar chuckled.

“Well, thank you, but you don’t quite understand how ironic this is. The old Council, the one before Dalaran was destroyed, they apprenticed me to Medivh because of my ability to...find things out. They hoped I might unearth some of his secrets, instead of ferreting out theirs, with the off-chance I might conveniently die or disappear in the process, like the others that had been sent to him. In fact, I think they seemed unnerved that I had survived, when I returned to them during the Second War.”

Draggka blinked, and something dark shifted in her gaze, suggesting that she was not nearly as amused as he was about it.

“Dey sent ya to Medivh...to die?”

“Probably. The conversations I overheard certainly suggested it was part of the reason they chose me. B-But that was the old Kirin Tor, the one that Arthas...you know. The Kirin Tor now is a better organisation, partly because I had a hand in making it so, but...I doubt they’d be best pleased to discover about us. Especially in the middle of...all of this.”

“Yeah.” She nodded, before a strange look crossed her face. “So...ya still want to do dis? Wit me?”

“Of course.” Khadgar nodded, taking her hands in his. “It’s going to be difficult, with the Legion, me being in charge of a magical floating city and many more things beside, and having to steal moments like this for each other. But I meant what I said.” He squeezed her hands. “We’ll do this together. I would not trade your love for anything. You mean a lot to me, my dear. Whilst I was hunting Gul’dan, I thought of you every day. In the brief times I stole away to sleep, my last thought was that I missed your company.” His smile reached his eyes and made crow’s feet crinkle at the edges. “And Spike’s too.”

The raptor made a soft ‘bark’, and the mage was fairly sure he could see a smile in the beast’s blue eyes.

“I missed ya too.” She replied, her smile causing her amber eyes to glimmer as she pulled back in the embrace a little way. As she did, Khadgar’s gaze fell upon the feathers woven into her hair braids, and he gently brushed his thumb over one that had been broken clean in two. “Sorry.” She grinned apologetically. “Dey got a bit battered.”

Khadgar chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest and the back of his throat.

“I expected something like that might happen.” He arched a silver eyebrow. “Guess you’ll just have to collect some more, hmm?”

Draggka’s giggle thrilled him more than words could describe, his heart skipping a beat excitedly.

“Yeah, suppose so. Ya mean everyting to me, Khadgar. I love you.”

“And I love you too.” The words were almost as natural as breathing, and the archmage gently pulled her in for an equally gentle kiss. He sighed as they pulled away, however, feeling responsibility double the weight of his scaled cloak-mantle. “I wish we had more time together, but I suppose Modera will start looking for me after a while, and I also suppose I need to take up my duties as a leader at some point. I’m sorry, Draggka.”

“Don’t be.” The troll smiled warmly, reaching up again to brush a single lock of silver hair from his face, calloused fingertips brushing over his skin. “We knew dis were gonna be a ting. Da sneaking time, not you bein a leader.” She added hurriedly. “‘Sides, I don’t tink dis be da last demon invasion we gonna see. Gonna have our hands full takin’ dem down.”

“Yes.” Khadgar nodded resolutely, sensing her business-like shift. “All the more reason to solve the mysteries of that tome and close the portal in the Tomb.”

“My offer still be standing, mon.” Draggka said. “If ya be needing any help, anyting at all, call me, and I will come. We be finding a way to make time for each other, when we can.” She took his hands, squeezing them. “Den whichever way dis be ending, we know we love each other. Dat we be fighting for dat. Our family, an’ Azeroth. Everyting.”

Khadgar smiled widely and warmly, though he couldn’t help idly wondering how more elegant such a speech would be in her native Zandali. He’d only heard it at length in the throes of passion on their first night together, and he’d not really had the wherewithal at the time to fully appreciate it. 

“Your way with words is one of the many things I missed about you,” he said. “Along with your smile, your laugh, your beauty-” He grinned widely as she gave him a shove.

“Ya big goof.” The hunter said, but the archmage was delighted to see a flush creeping over her face.

“And you can be sure I’ll find the time for you.” Khadgar deftly steered them back on track. “I promise. Leadership has to have its perks, right?” His childish grin widened as she giggled, though it faded in the brief silence. “Well. I should...probably let you go now. Let you get back to your business of...killing demons.”

Khadgar let go of her hands, but just before he could step back, he felt the entire weight of a raptor hit the back of his legs, shoving him unceremoniously into Draggka. “Oof!”

“Ya be forgettin’ to be giving me a goodbye kiss?” She grinned toothily up at him, her eyes glinting in a way that curled a heat deep inside him. But he blushed instead with embarrassment, especially when he heard Spike chuff in what definitely had to be laughter.

“Oh! S-Sorry!” Khadgar pressed a kiss to her lips. “Let me give you another, to apologise.” He moved a little too quickly with the second one, kissing more of her upper lip than both of them. “Wait, no, let me do that one again.” The mage did it properly this time, and he almost bounced on his toes to feel her smile and giggle against him, wrapping his arms around her.

“Haven’t ya got someting else to do?” She teased, even as he swooped in for yet another kiss, dizzy with his adoration for her. “A meetin’, perhaps?”

The archmage made a sigh-snort noise out of his nose, resting his forehead against hers. 

“I suppose so.” He murmured. “I’m sorry, I just missed you so much, and I haven’t held you, kissed you like this in a way that didn’t involve you being upset. Though,” he glanced away, “you probably didn’t want to be reminded of that...”

“It be fine, Khadgar.” Draggka gently bumped their noses together. “We move forward. It be da Darkspear way.”

Khadgar smiled.

“A fine sentiment to have.” He unravelled his arms from around her. “I love you, Draggka. Come back to me in one piece.”

“I will.” Draggka nodded, Spike returning to her side. “Love ya too, Khadgar.” She kissed him this time, the ghost of her tusks against his skin. “We be givin’ da Legion hell for ya!” Spike gave a little a bark-growl in assent. 

“I know you will. You both will.” Khadgar grinned widely, his eyes twinkling as they stepped apart from one another. “Farewell, Champion. Until we meet again, sometime soon.”

With that, he dismissed the wards on the doors, and watched the Darkspear hunter and her companion leave, heart full of pride and relief that they had gotten through their rough patch, and were now stoked with fire for the campaign ahead.

 _I’m a very lucky man,_ Khadgar thought to himself, turning to go and find Modera. _And if the Legion, or anyone, thinks they can try and rip us apart, they are going to be very. Sorely. **Mistaken.**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Don't let the the darkness come and hold me  
> I need someone cause I can't be lonely tonight  
> Come on baby come and take me in your arms  
> I'll never be scared of the dark
> 
> And when the shadows creep up on me  
> If I shiver keep your body close to mine  
> Come on baby come and take me in your arms  
> I'll never be scared of the dark"
> 
> -Scared of the Dark, Steps


End file.
